ADDRESS 


TO  THE 


PEOPLE  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


AND 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  SUPPRESSION  OF 

LOTTERIES. 


PRINTED  BY  WILLIAM  BROWN, 

,* 


1834. 


AT  A  MEETING  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS 
of  *  The  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  suppression  of  Lot¬ 
teries?  held  at  Philadelphia,  July  24,  1834, 

J.  R.  TYSON,  Esq.,  from  the  committee  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  reported  and  read  the  following  *  Address  to  the 
People  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  United  States' 

Whereupon  it  was  ordered  that  the  address  be  approved, 
and  that  2500  copies  thereof  be  published  for  general  distribu¬ 
tion,  together  with  a  list  of  the  officers  of  the  society,  and  the 
recent  laws  of  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts,  abolishing 
lotteries. 


From  the  minutes, 

A.  SYMINGTON,  Secretary. 


The  undersigned  have  been  charged  by  “The  Penn¬ 
sylvania  Society  for  the  suppression  of  Lotteries”  with 
the  duty  of  laying  before  the  people  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  United  States,  the  general  evils  of  the  lottery 
system,  in  connexion  with  the  reasons  and  objects  of 
their  own  association.  In  the  performance  of  the  func¬ 
tion  assigned  them,  they  cannot  perhaps  do  better  than 
to  present,  as  introductory  to  both,  a  succinct  history  of 
their  efforts  to  abolish  lotteries  in  this  state.  This  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  the  more  necessary,  because  their  designs 
have  been  impugned  and  misrepresented,  and  because  a 
simple  narrative  must,  in  its  relations,  shed  light  upon 
the  general  question  in  its  various  aspects. 

From  causes  to  which  it  is  here  unnecessary  to  advert, 

Pennsylvania,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1821,  became 

a  mart  for  nearly  all  the  lotteries  in  the  United  States. 

* 

Although  the  laws  were  armed  with  severe  penalties  to 
punish  the  sale  of  foreign  tickets,  the  evil,  in  a  few 
years,  became  so  excessive  that  the  drawings  of  at  least 
fifteen  prohibited  lotteries  were  regularly  announced,  in 
this  city,  quite  as  a  matter  of  course,  throughout  the 


V 

4 

year.  Oar  streets  were  overrun  and  deformed  by  lottery 
offices.  The  effects  of  so  extensive  a  traffic  were  obvious. 
They  were  seen  in  the  number  of  insolvents;  in  the 
multiplication  of  tippling-houses ;  in  the  desolation, 
want  and  misery  of  the  domestic  fireside ;  in  the  in¬ 
crease  of  pauperism,  immorality  and  crime.  Efforts 
were  made  to  stop  the  progress  or  restrain  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  this  desolating  scourge,  hut  without  success. 
Transgressors  had  so  long  enjoyed  impunity  that  they 
almost  claimed  it  by  prescription.  No  prospect  pre¬ 
sented  but  passive  submission  to  a  state  of  things  at  once 
pernicious  and  disgraceful.  The  traffic  had  so  mingled 
itself  with  the  feelings  of  our  citizens  that  hundreds  of 
persons  were  known  to  pursue  the  purchase  of  lottery 
tickets  as  a  regular  means  of  subsistence.  The  subject 
at  length  attracted  the  attention  of  a  number  of  gentle¬ 
men  who  aimed  at  remedying  the  evil  by  its  extirpation. 
In  the  year  1831,  these  gentlemen  issued  a  report  upon 
the  illegality,  abuses,  and  mischiefs  of  the  system.  They 
likewise  addressed  to  the  legislature  a  memorial  in  which 

they  enforce,  in  strong  language,  the  necessity  for  its 
•  _ 

immediate  interposition.  These  contributed  to  rouse 
the  public  to  the  magnitude  and  means  of  eradicating  a 
disease,  which,  as  men  happened  to  view  it,  had  been 
esteemed  either  as  very  trivial  or  altogether  incurable. 
Other  publications  were  issued  under  the  same  sanction, 
and  followed  by  similar  results.  On  the  first  day  of 
March,  1833,  a  law  was  enacted,  declaring  all  lotteries 
in  Pennsylvania  unauthorized  and  illegal.  The  act  was 
not  to  go  into  effect  until  the  31st  day  of  the  subsequent 
December,  thus  allowing,  to  persons  engaged  in  the  lot- 


5 


tery  business,  a  period  of  ten  months  for  the  selection  of 
some  other  and  more  useful  pursuit.  It  had  been  in 
operation  only  a  few  weeks,  when  intimations  were 
made  that  it  was  violated.  To  avoid,  if  possible,  the 
necessity  of  instituting  prosecutions,  offenders  were 
warned  through  the  public  prints  of  the  consequences 
likely  to  ensue  from  disregarding  a  statute  so  highly 
penal  in  its  character.  Notwithstanding  this  humane 
caution,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  the  republication  of 
the  act  itself,  assurances  were  daily  received  that  the 
violations  were  unremitted  and  extensive.  Much  ex¬ 
pense  had  been  incurred  and  labour  expended,  and 
the  legislature,  after  mature  deliberation,  had  solemnly 
declared  that  lotteries  were  detrimental  to  the  inte¬ 
rests  of  society.  The  supposed  benefits  arising  to  the 
cause  of  internal  improvements  in  Pennsylvania,  were, 
in  its  opinion,  countervailed  by  their  injurious  effects. 
The  question  then  occurred  whether  something  worse 
than  the  former  condition  of  things  could  be  passively 
tolerated?  Whether  Pennsylvania  should  be  allowed 
to  contribute  to  the  public  improvements  of  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  Rhode  Island,  and  other  places, 
in  a  way  which  she  had  emphatically  denied  to  her¬ 
self?  Whether,  in  a  word,  she  should  pour  her  trea¬ 
sures  into  the  lap  of  other  states,  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  all  the  evils,  without  any  of  the  promised  ad¬ 
vantages  of  the  system  ?  No  alternative  remained  but 
to  rest  satisfied  with  an  act,  which,  while  it  denounced 
high  penalties  against  offenders,  was  to  lie  inoperative 
and  despised  upon  the  statute-book,  or  to  make  a  vigorous 
effort  to  carry  it  into  execution.  As  no  disposition  was 


6 


felt  to  accept  of  a  nominal  abolition,  a  mere  ideal  sha¬ 
dow,  while  we  had  been  struggling  for  the  substance, 
the  present  association  was  formed.  One  of  its  express  » 

and  fundamental  purposes  is,  to  aid  the  public  authorities 
in  carrying  the  law  into  effect,  and  as  connected  with 
this,  to  promote  the  enactment  of  similar  laws,  and  the 
formation  of  similar  societies  throughout  the  union. 

Soon  after  the  institution  was  organized  by  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  rules  and  the  election  of  officers,  abundant  proof 
was  furnished  that  it  had  not  been  formed  in  vain.  Four 
persons,  who,  we  had  reason  to  believe,  had  followed  as 
a  business  the  sale  of  tickets,  were  apprehended  and 
held  to  bail  in  considerable  sums.  One  of  these  has 

been  alreadv  convicted  at  the  recent  session  of  the 
%> 

Mayor’s  Court,  and  sentenced  to  undergo  imprisonment 
in  the  county  gaol  for  the  period  of  three  months.  In 
the  prosecution  of  its  objects,  the  association  is  resolved 
to  encounter,  with  all  its  energies,  the  labour  it  has  un¬ 
dertaken  ;  and  to  put  in  requisition  all  the  honourable 
means  it  can  employ,  to  vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law 
by  dragging  its  offenders  to  punishment. 

The  history  of  the  lottery  system  in  Pennsylvania 
and  other  states,  clearly  demonstrates  that  a  milder 
policy,  a  less  uncompromising  principle  of  action, 
would  leave  domestic  legislation  ineffectual  and  power¬ 
less.  In  this  state  foreign  tickets  have  been  prohibited 
from  the  earliest  period,  and  from  the  earliest  period 
have  been  extensively  and  even  openly  sold.  The 
violations  of  the  law  of  1833,  so  fearful  in  penalties,  fur¬ 
nish  additional  evidence  of  the  inadequacy  of  unaided 
legislation.  In  Massachusetts,  after  the  legal  abolition 


7 


of  their  domestic  system,  and  the  prohibition  of  foreign 
tickets,  the  painful  case  of  Ackers  occurred,  at  once 
a  melancholy  instance  of  their  baneful  and  ruinous  effects. 
It  was  ascertained  by  a  committee  of  the  legislature  ap¬ 
pointed  soon  after  this  case  of  embezzlement  and  suicide 
became  known,  that  the  traffic  was  carried  on  to  a  very 
great  extent,  and  that  in  the  city  of  Boston  alone,  it  then 
exceeded  a  million  a  year.  Nothing  less  than  super- 
added  guards  and  penalties,  assisted  by  a  society  modelled 
upon  similar  principles  with  our  own,  could  stop  so  de¬ 
vious  and  headlong  a  torrent.  These,  it  is  supposed, 
have  at  length  excluded  it  from  the  limits  of  Massachu¬ 
setts.  In  New  York,  though  the  system  is  legally  at 
an  end,  and  the  revised  Constitution  disables  the  legisla¬ 
ture  from  ever  making  a  lottery  grant,  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  law  would  be  infringed  but  for  the  exist¬ 
ence  and  patriotic  exertions  of  a  similar  society.  No 
grant  is  in  being  in  New  Hampshire,  and  the  sale  of 
foreign  tickets  is  made  penal  by  successive  acts  of  the 
legislature.  But  in  open  defnnee  of  law,  tickets,  up  to 
a  recent  period,  were  sold  by  nearly  every  bookseller  in 
the  state;  and  the  mania  for  lottery  speculation  pervaded 
almost  every  class  of  the  community.  A  like  remark  is 
applicable  to  New  Jersey.  No  grant  is  known  to  be  in 
operation ;  urgent  applications  for  the  privilege  have 
been  repeatedly  refused  ;  and  a  pecuniary  penalty  is 
annexed  by  law  to  the  sale  of  foreign  tickets.  In  the 
face  of  this  prohibition,  the  traffic  is  carried  on  without 
even  the  appearance  of  concealment,  and  every  art  is 
employed  to  extend  and  ramify  the  business.  In  Ohio, 
Vermont,  Maine,  Michigan,  Louisiana,  and  Connecticut, 


8 


the  lottery  system  is  destroyed,  so  far  as  its  destruction 
can  be  effected  by  the  simple  authority  of  law.  We 
have  no  precise  information  whether  in  these  states  the 
law  is  observed  or  infracted,  but  judging  from  what  has 
taken  place  elsewhere,  and  the  adventurous  spirit  of  the 
trade,  it  is  feared  that  the  abolition  is  merely  nomi¬ 
nal.  The  importance  and  necessity  of  forming  asso¬ 
ciations  to  guard  these  states  from  the  evils  they  are 
anxious  to  eschew — to  guard  their  citizens  from  injury 
and  their  laws  from  violation — need  scarcely  be  pressed 
by  formal  argument.  Experience,  that  sure  .teacher,  has 
fully  proved  that  personal  vigilance  will  always  be  re¬ 
quisite  to  prevent  the  sale  of  tickets,  since  it  can  never 
with  safety  be  remitted  or  relaxed,  until  the  system  is 
exploded  in  every  section  of  the  confederacy. 

When  this  desirable  result  shall  be  attained,  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult  to  conjecture.  The  lottery  system,  at  present, 
prevails  in  about  half  the  states  in  the  union.  In 
Virginia,  it  is  highly  probable  that  its  career  will  have 
a  brief  continuance.  In  North  Carolina  and  Illinois  it  is 
already  virtually  abolished.  It  is  pleasing  to  anticipate 
the  triumph  of  correct  principles,  not  only  in  these,  but 
in  all  the  other  states,  so  far  as  to  induce  the  legal  extir¬ 
pation  of  so  ruinous  and  destructive  a  policy.  Why  it 
should  receive  the  sanction  of  law  in  this  country  after 
the  sad  experience  of  England,  whence  it  was  derived, 
can  only  be  explained  by  ascribing  it  to  the  distorted 
visions  of  erroneous  economists  or  the  insidious  influ¬ 
ences  of  evil  example. 

The  evidences  of  its  corrupting  tendency  and  ineffi¬ 
ciency,  as  a  financial  resort,  are  almost  too  numerous 


9 


and  palpable  to  require  exposition.  We  may,  how¬ 
ever,  be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  6  Survey’  pub¬ 
lished  by  the  gentlemen  who  now  form  the  Society  for 
the  suppression  of  lotteries,  as  furnishing  many  exam - 
pies  of  its  direful  and  pernicious  results.  In  that  work 
are  recorded  nearly  one  hundred  cases ,  each  suffi¬ 
ciently  authenticated,  of  pecuniary  or  moral  ruin  occa¬ 
sioned  by  indulgence  in  lottery  speculations.  Where  the 
victim  of  this  false  and  seductive  game  is  unsuccessful, 
as  must  happen  from  necessity  in  the  proportion  of  al¬ 
most  ninety-nine  cases  to  a  hundred ;  he  is  incited  by 
the  temptations  of  desire  to  new  trials  of  his  fortune ; 
each  shred  and  fragment  of  his  dwindling  property  is  put 
under  contribution,  and  recklessly  staked,  till  the  last  is 
exhausted.  His  mind  debased  by  evil  companionship 
and  idle  habits,  and  enervated  by  illusive  calculations 
and  inordinate  hopes,  is  robbed  of  its  native  virtues  and 
its  native  strength.  He  sinks  a  worthless,  abject,  and 
degraded  wretch  into  voluntary  pauperism,  or  is  driven 
to  the  commission  of  vices  and  crimes  which  render  him 
the  disgrace  of  his  friends  and  the  bane  of  his  country. 
When  good  fortune ,  so  called,  is  the  fate  of  the  adven¬ 
turer,  it  is,  perhaps,  invariably  followed  by  the  ruin  of 
his  virtue  and  his  peace.  It  raises  him  to  a  sudden  pin¬ 
nacle  which  renders  him  dizzy ;  he  looks  with  contempt 
upon  the  humbleness  of  useful  labourers  below.  His 
brief  career,  marked  by  wasteful  extravagance  and  licen¬ 
tious  folly,  ends  in  bankruptcy.  From  the  dreams  which 
he  has  indulged,  and  the  habits  he  has  fostered,  he  is 
rendered  completely  the  sport,  as  he  has  been  the  victim 
of  chance  ;  he  is  ready  to  go  whithersoever  the  tide  of 

B 


10 


✓ 


accident  or  passion  may  carry  him.  We  do  not  draw 
from  fancy  an  overcharged  and  visionary  picture ;  the 
reality  far  transcends  the  feebleness  of  such  a  portraiture. 
Out  of  the  many  examples  we  might  adduce,  we  present 
one  which  may  suffice.  A  man  of  correct  and  attentive 
habits,  who  kept  a  shoe  store  in  this  city,  and  was  known 
to  be  doing  well,  ventured,  two  or  three  years  ago,  in 
the  lottery,  and  drew  a  prize  of  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
He  abandoned  his  business,  commenced  a  course  of  pro¬ 
digality  and  excess,  and  grew  very  intemperate.  He 
lately  died  insolvent  of  mania  a  potu .  Such  instances 
might  be  multiplied,  but  we  forbear  in  an  address  of  this 
nature. 

The  efFects  of  the  lotterv  are  not  confined  to  the  ad- 
venturer  alone.  The  domestic  miserv  it  entails,  the 
dark  passions  which  it  engenders  and  cherishes,  are  to 
be  read  in  the  hapless  story  of  many  an  ill-fated  family. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  peruse  well  authenticated  exam¬ 
ples  of  its  influence  to  be  satisfied,  that  it  presents  in  the 
aggregate  as  much  and  diversified  wretchedness,  as  much 
and  multiform  vice  and  crime  as  any  engine  which  the 
genius  of  man  has  invented  for  the  affliction  and  debase¬ 
ment  of  his  fellow.  One  trait  of  the  lottery,  as  distin¬ 
guished  from  other  gaming  is,  that  it  leads  into  its  vortex 
the  poor,  the  laborious,  and  tbe  simple,  no  less  than  the 
swaggering  gamester,  the  idler,  and  the  libertine.  By 
the  minute  subdivision  of  tickets,  a  chance  is  brought 
within  the  means  of  the  chimney-sweep,  the  servant, 
and  the  apprentice.  When  by  successive  losses  these 
means  are  exhausted,  they  resort  to  theft  with  the  view 
to  a  further  venture.  Again  they  are  disappointed,  and 


11 


again  they  steal,  until  by  repetition  the  sense  of  honesty 
is  blunted  or  gone;  they  increase  in  the  amount  and 
character  of  their  frauds  until  they  become  fit  inmates  of 
a  prison  or  penitentiary. — But  unheeding  distinction  or 
restraint,  it  ascends  to  the  elevated  stations  in  society. 
The  desire  of  immediate  wealth  is  often  found  to  be  irre¬ 
sistible.  This  desire,  by  indulgence,  becomes  an  en¬ 
grossing  passion.  Speculations  in  the  lottery  can  be 
carried  on  in  secret.  It  is  thus  that  even  the  most  esti¬ 
mable  men  are  decoyed  from  the  path  of  virtue  and  pro¬ 
priety,  who  would  shrink  from  the  infamy  of  ordinary 
gambling  ;  they  embark  by  little  and  little  ;  an  occasional 
gleam  of  good  fortune  and  the  flattering  promises  of 
their  lottery  friends,  keep  alive,  in  its  intensity,  the  ar¬ 
dour  of  hope,  until  they  grow  desperate,'  and  are  ruined. 

If  it  be  thus  injurious  to  the  citizen,  the  objects  for 
which  it  is  intended,  the  public  purposes  to  which  it  is 
applied,  furnish  little  palliation.  If  it  be  an  engine  of 
private  mischief,  it  is  little  apology  to  say  that  it  was 
designed  for  a  public  good.  But  in  the  examination  of 
the  public  benefits  it  confers,  we  shall  find  that  the  lot¬ 
tery  system,  considered  as  a  public  measure,  is  as  decep¬ 
tive  and  illusory  as  the  promises  which  each  successive 
scheme  holds  out  to  its  votaries.  In  England,  it  is  ac¬ 
knowledged,  that  it  occasioned  a  positive  loss  to  the  go¬ 
vernment,  by  producing  an  amount  of  pauperism  which 
its  profits  were  wholly  insufficient  to  countervail.  In  this 
country,  when  we  consider  its  pervading  and  undistin- 
guishing  influence,  the  victims  it  allures,  the  extent  to 
which  they  adventure,  and  its  calamitous  effects,  as 
shown  by  the  records  of  our  insolvent  courts,  almshouses, 


12 


and  prisons,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  a  computation 
would  lead  us  to  the  same  result.  The  benefits  to  the 
community  accruing  from  lottery  grants,  have  been  sadly 
overrated.  In  many  instances,  they  not  only  scatter  far 
and  wide  the  seeds  of  poverty  and  ruin  to  the  purchasers 
of  tickets,  but  they  produce  insolvency  in  the  recipients 
of  the  grants  themselves.  Witness  the  declarations  of 
Yates  &  McIntyre,  in  their  petitions  to  the  legislature  of 
Pennsylvania,  on  the  subject  of  their  contract  with  the 
Union  Canal  Company.  Two  lotteries  of  Maine,  author¬ 
ised  in  the  year  1831,  after  issuing  schemes  to  the  amount 
of  $60,000,  were  able  to  leave  only  the  miserable  pit¬ 
tance  of  IS  14  21  in  the  treasury,  after  paying  the  dis¬ 
bursements.  The  Plymouth  JBeach  Lottery,  authorised 
by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1812, 
issued  schemes  in  the  course  of  nine  years,  amounting  to 
$886,439  75.  The  whole  sum  realized  to  the  town  of 
Plymouth,  from  these  large  issues,  was  the  inadequate 
total  of  $9,876  17.  A  still  more  striking  illustration  is 
presented  in  the  case  of  the  Union  Canal  Company.  The 
grant  was  originally  to  two  companies,  who,  between  the 
years  1795  and  1811,  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  succeed¬ 
ed  in  raising  the  sum  of  $60,000.  At  the  latter  period 
referred  to,  the  grant  which  terminated  with  the  last 
year,  was  made  to  the  existing  corporation  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  raising  $340,000.  In  the  twenty- two  years, 
during  which  this  grant  was  in  existence,  schemes  were 
issued,  exceeding  the  frightful  aggregate  of  thirty -three 
millions  of  dollars ,  without  yielding  to  the  company  the 
sum  authorized  by  the  grant. 

It  is  evident  from  this  exhibition,  that  either  from  the 


13 


enormous  expenses  incident  to  the  system,  or  from  the 
extravagant  and  defective  mode  of  its  administration, 
prodigious  sums  are  extracted  from  the  people  with¬ 
out  a  corresponding  return — that  schemes  may  be  issued 
amounting  to  thousands,  without  producing  a  single  hun¬ 
dred  to  the  object  in  view!  Considered  as  a  tax,  or  a 
means  of  revenue,  it  is  to  be  deemed  unwise,  impolitic, 
and  defective,  since,  by  the  immense  assessments  which 
it  imposes,  it  must  exhaust  the  pecuniary  abilities  of  a 
people.  It  is  unequal  in  its  operation,  because  it  is  not 
a  burden  levied  with  justice  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  property  enjoyed,  but  comes  from  the  idleness,  the 
poverty,  and  the  recklessness  of  its  contributors.  As  it 
depends  for  its  encouragement  upon  vice  or  credulity, 
it  must  impart  aliment  to  those  dispositions  and  qualities, 
the  prevalence  of  which  is  indispensable  to  its  success. 

In  this  connexion  are  to  be  viewed  its  effects  upon 
those  public  institutions,  whose  end  is  to  elevate  the  cha¬ 
racter  of  the  citizen,  and  to  arrest  the  career  of  vice  and 
crime.  Public  schools,  houses  of  refuge,  and  penitenti¬ 
aries  for  solitary  confinement,  have  all  a  common  object. 
They  exist  by  the  public  bounty,  and  rest  upon  the  ad¬ 
mitted  principle,  that  virtue  is  necessary  to  the  perma¬ 
nence  and  enjoyment  of  free  institutions.  Does  not  the 
lottery  system  conflict,  in  all  its  remote  bearings  and 
immediate  results,  with  the  success  and  policy  of  these  ? 
Why  should  money  he  expended  in  the  suppression  of 
vice  and  the  encouragement  of  virtue,  while  a  system  is 
protected  and  sanctioned  for  raising  money  out  of  the 
most  pitiable  weaknesses  of  the  mind  and  the  worst  pas¬ 
sions  of  the  heart?  If  the  public  coffers  be  an  object, 


14 


superior  in  importance  to  popular  virtue,  why  are 
immense  sums  expended  in  the  establishment  of  charita¬ 
ble  and  philanthropic  foundations?  If  revenue  is  to  be 

* 

put  in  competition  with  morals,  it  would  be  well,  for  the 
sake  of  legislative  consistency,  to  break  up  those  schemes 
of  benevolence  for  the  improvement  of  morality  and  the 
melioration  of  intellect,  which  require  the  expenditure 
of  money  in  their  cultivation.  The  more  the  subject  is 
considered,  the  committee  are  persuaded,  the  more  in¬ 
defensible  it  will  appear  in  itself,  the  more  incongruous 
with  the  general  spirit  of  our  institutions,  the  more  at 
variance  with  the  happiness  of  the  people,  and  the  more 
inimical  to  the  welfare  of  the  country.  It  is  respectfully 
submitted  to  the  patriotism  of  those  states  in  which  it 
exists,  that  in  destroying  the  lottery  they  only  weed  out 
a  poisonous  exotic,  whose  noxious  and  rank  luxuriance 
in  pervading  the  land  and  blighting  all  our  indigenous 
fruits,  shows  itself  to  be  wholly  unsuited  and  repugnant 
to  the  genius  of  the  American  soil. 

On  behalf  of  “  The  Society  for  the  Suppression  of 
Lotteries.” 


ISAAC  COLLINS, 
MATTHEW  NEWKIRK, 
JAMES  J.  BARCLAY, 
GEORGE  M.  STROUD, 
WILLIAM  M.  MEREDITH, 
JOB  R.  TYSON, 


Committee . 


15 


(  No.  1.  ) 

List  of  Officers  of  “  The  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Sup¬ 
pression  of  Lotteries,”  for  the  year  1834. 

•  *  ^ 

President — Thomas  C.  James. 

Vice-Presidents — Alexander  Henry,  B.  W.  Richards,  Thomas  P.  Cope, 

Abraham  Miller. 

Counsellors — W.  M.  Meredith,  G.  M.  Stroud,  J.  R.  Tyson. 

Secretaries — Geo.  Handy,  John  M.  Atwood. 

Treasurer — Thomas  Earp. 


Managers. 


J.  J.  Barclay, 
Robert  Earp, 

A.  Symington, 
Geo.  W.  Smith, 
Joel  Atkinson, 
Isaiah  Hacker, 


Joseph  Watson, 
Matthew  Newkirk 
Silas  W.  Sexton, 
William  Hodgson, 


Isaac  Collins, 

Josiali  White, 
Townsend  Sharpless, 
Edward  Needles, 
John  S.  Henry, 
Joseph  Warner, 

Geo.  Williams, 

Barth.  Wistar, 

Hartt  Grandom, 
Henry  Troth, 


John  U.  Fraley, 
Abraham  Hilyard, 
G.  W.  Blight, 
Fred.  Fraley, 

John  Wiegand, 
Jacob  Lex, 
Thomas  Astley, 
Edward  Yarnall, 
Samuel  L.  Shober, 
Wm.  M‘Main. 


v 


16 


(  No.  2.  ) 

Jin  Jlct  for  the  Abolition  of  Lotteries  in  Pennsylvania . — 
Passed  the  first  day  of  March,  1833. 

Whereas,  by  certain  acts  of  Assembly  heretofore  enacted,  the  right  to  raise, 
b}r  way  of  lottery,  certain  sums  of  money,  was  granted  to  the  Union  Canal  Com¬ 
pany  of  Pennsylvania :  And  whereas,  it  appears  to  the  Legislature  that  the  said 
right  has  been  fully  exercised  and  exhausted :  And  whereas,  all  other  rights  to 

raise  money  by  lottery,  heretofore  granted  by  the  Legislature,  have  either  been 

% 

exercised  or  exhausted,  or  have  been  abandoned,  and  it  being  the  intention  of  the 
Legislature  to  put  an  entire  stop  to  tire  evils  arising  from  lotteries  and  the  sale  of 
lottery  tickets : 

Sect.  1.  Be  it  enacted,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Com¬ 
monwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  met,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted 
by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  from  and  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-three,  all  and  every  lottery  and  lotte¬ 
ries,  and  device  and  devices  in  the  nature  of  lotteries,  shall  be  utterly  and  entirely 
abolished,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  thenceforth  unauthorized  and  unlawful. 

Sect.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  from  and 
after  the  day  aforesaid,  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  sell  or  expose  to  sale,  or 
cause  to  be  sold  or  exposed  to  sale,  or  shall  keep  on  hand  for  the  purpose  of  sale,  or 
shall  advertise  or  cause  to  be  advertised  for  sale,  or  shall  aid  or  assist,  or  be  in  any 
wise  concerned  in  the  sale,  or  exposure  to  sale,  of  any  lottery  ticket  or  tickets,  or 
any  share  or  part  of  any  lottery  ticket,  in  any  lottery  or  device  in  the  nature  of  a 
lottery  within  this  commonwealth,  or  elsewhere,  and  any  person  or  persons  who 
shall  advertise  or  cause  to  be  advertised,  the  drawing  of  any  scheme  in  any  lot¬ 
tery,  or  be  in  any  way  concerned  in  the  managing,  conducting,  carrying  on,  or 
drawing  of  any  lottery  or  device  in  the  nature  of  a  lottery,  and  shall  be  convicted 
thereof  in  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  shall,  for  each  and  every  such  of¬ 
fence,  forfeit  and  pay  a  sum  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  and  not  exceeding 
ten  thousand  dollars,  or  be  sentenced  to  undergo  an  imprisonment  not  exceedin' 
six  months,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 


Mm 


17 


i 

An  Act  for  the  Suppression  of  Lotteries  in  Massachusetts. — > 
Passed  the  23 d  day  of  March ,  1833. 


Sect.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  from  and  after  the  pass¬ 
ing  of  this  act,  if  any  person  shall  make,  sell,  or  offer  for  sale ;  or  shall  have  in 
his  possession  with  intent  to  sell,  offer  for  sale,  or  negotiate ;  or  be  in  any  wise 
aiding  or  abetting  in  the  sale  of  any  lottery  ticket,  or  part  of  any  lottery  ticket* 
or  of  any  certificate,  bill,  token,  or  security,  purporting  to  entitle  the  owner,  bearer, 
holder,  or  any  other  person,  to  any  share  or  interest  in  any  prize  to  be  drawn  in 
any  lottery  not  authorized  by  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth ;  or  shall  draw,  or 
aid  or  assist  in  drawing  any  such  lottery ;  or  shall  aid  or  be  concerned  in  the 
managing  or  conducting  of  any  such  lottery ;  or  shall  knowingly  suffer  or  permit 
the  selling  of  any  lottery  ticket,  or  the  drawing  or  managing  of  any  such  lottery, 
in  any  house,  store,  or  other  building,  owned,  rented,  or  occupied  by  him,  within 
this  commonwealth ;  or  shall  knowingly  suffer  or  permit  any  lottery  ticket  or 
part  of  a  lottery  ticket  to  be  raffled  for  or  won  by  throwing  dice  in  any  house, 
shop,  or  other  building  owned,  rented,  or  occupied  by  him  within  this  common¬ 
wealth,  every  such  person  shall  forfeit  and  pay  a  sum  not  less  than  one  hundred 
dollars ,  nor  more  than  two  thousand  dollars,  to  be  recovered  by  indictment  or  in¬ 
formation,  before  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction ;  one  half  of  said  fine  or  for¬ 
feiture  for  the  use  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  other  half  to  the  person  or  per¬ 
sons  who  shall  prosecute  therefor :  And  if  any  person,  who  shall  have  been  arrested 
for  an  offence  under  this  section,  and  been  convicted  thereof,  shall,  after  such  ar¬ 
rest  commit  either  of  the  offences  aforesaid,  he  shall,  in  addition  to  the  fines  and 
forfeitures  aforesaid,  be  sentenced  for  every  subsequent  offence  to  labour  in  the 
house  of  correction,  (or  to  the  common  gaol,  if  tried  in  any  county  where  no 
house  of  correction  shall  have  been  established,)  for  a  term  of  time  not  less  than 
three  months,  nor  more  than  twelve  months. 

Sect.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  if 
any  person  shall  advertise  or  cause  to  be  advertised,  for  sale,  any  lottery  ticket, 
or  part  of  any  lottery  ticket,  or  any  certificate,  bill,  token,  or  security,  purporting 
to  entitle  the  owner,  bearer  or  holder,  or  any  other  person,  to  any  share  or  interest 

c 


18 


in  any  prize,  to  be  drawn  in  any  lottery  not  authorized  by  the  laws  of  this  rom- 
monwealth  ;  or  shall  exhibit  any  sign,  symbol,  or  other  emblematic  representation, 
of  a  lottery,  or  of  the  drawing  of  a  lottery,  or  in  any  way  indicating  where  any 
such  lottery  ticket  or  part  of  a  lottery  ticket,  certificate,  bill,  token,  or  security, 
may  be  purchased  or  received,  or  shall  in  any  manner  invite  or  entice  others  to 
purchase  or  receive  any  such  lottery  ticket,  part  of  a  lottery  ticket,  certificate,  bill, 
token  or  security ;  such  person  shall  forfeit  and  pay,  for  each  and  every  such  of¬ 
fence,  a  sum  not  less  than  thirty  dollars,  nor  more  than  one  hundred  dollars,  to  be 
recovered  by  information  or  indictment  before  any  court  of  competent  jurisdic¬ 
tion ;  one  half  of  said  fine  or  forfeiture  for  the  use  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the 
other  half  to  the  person  or  persons  who  shall  prosecute  therefor. 

Sect.  3.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That,  from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  if 
any  person  shall  make,  sell,  or  offer  for  sale,  in  this  commonwealth,  any  fictitious 
lottery  ticket,  or  part  of  such  ticket,  or  any  ticket  or  part  of  any  ticket  in  any  fic¬ 
titious  or  pretended  lottery,  knowing  such  ticket  or  lottery  to  be  fictitious,  or  in 
any  lottery  not  authorized  by  the  Legislature  of  one  of  the  United  States,  knowing 
the  same  not  to  be  so  authorized  ;  or  shall  make,  sell,  or  offer  for  sale,  any  ficti¬ 
tious  certificate,  bill,  token  or  security,  or  shall  receive  any  money  or  other  valua- 

A 

ble  consideration  for  any  such  ticket  or  part  of  a  ticket,  certificate,  bill,  token  or 

security,  knowing  the  same  to  be  fictitious,  purporting  that  the  owner,  bearer,  or 

holder  thereof,  or  any  other  person,  is  or  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  any  prize  or  ^ 

part  of  a  prize  that  may  be  drawn  in  any  such  lottery ;  or  shall  make  or  have  in 

his  possession,  with  intent  to  sell  or  negotiate,  any  such  fictitious  ticket  or  part  of 

a  ticket,  bill,  token  or  security,  knowing  the  same  to  be  fictitious — every  person  so 

offending,  and  being  thereof  convicted,  before  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction, 

shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  and  confinement  to  labour  in  the  State  Prison, 

for  a  term  of  time  not  less  than  one  year,  nor  more  than  three  years.  And,  upon 

the  trial  of  any  prosecution  for  cither  of  the  offences  described  in  this  section, 

whether  by  indictment  or  information,  any  ticket  or  part  of  a  ticket,  certificate, 

bill,  token,  or  security  purporting  to  entitle  any  person  to  any  prize,  or  part  of 

any  prize  that  may  be  drawn  in  any  lottery,  and  which  the  defendant  shall  have 

been  proved  to  have  sold,  or  offered  for  sale,  or  for  which  he  shall  have  received 

any  valuable  consideration,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  false,  spurious,  fictitious,  and 

pretended,  unless  the  defendant  shall  prove  that  the  same,  when  it  was  sold,  or 

offered  for  sale  by  him,  was  an  original  and  genuine  ticket,  or  part  of  a  ticket,  in 

a  lottery  authorized  by  the  Legislature  of  one  of  the  United  States,  existing  and 

undrawn  at  the  time  of  sale,  or  offered  for  sale,  and  binding  upon  the  managers  of 

such  lottery  or  other  person  or  persons  authorized  by  the  Legislature  of  such  /■ 

State,  to  issue  such  ticket,  or  part  of  a  ticket.  And  any  person  or  persons  who 


19 


shall  prosecute  to  conviction  any  one  who  may  have  committed  either  of  the  of¬ 
fences  described  in  this  section,  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  from  the  treasury  of 
the  commonwealth  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  every  such  conviction,  and  a  war¬ 
rant  shall  be  granted  therefor,  upon  the  certificate  of  the  judge  of  the  court  before 
which  the  conviction  shall  have  been  had,  that  such  person  or  persons  are  entitled 
to  such  reward,  as  such  prosecutor  or  prosecutors. 

Sect.  4.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That,  on  complaint  of  the  violation  of  any  of  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  made  under  oath  or  affirmation  to  any  justice  of  the  peace,  or 
of  any  justice  of  any  Police  Court,  such  justice  shall  issue  a  warrant  for  the  appre¬ 
hension  of  the  offender  or  offenders,  and  if  he  see  cause,  shall  bind  over  said  offender 
or  offenders,  to  the  next  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  to  be  held  within  the  county 
where  the  offence  shall  be  alleged  to  have  been  committed,  or  to  the  Municipal 
Court  of  the  city  of  Boston,  if  within  the  county  of  Suffolk,  to  be  tried  for  such 
offence. 

Sect.  5.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  money  received  by  any  inhabitant  of 
this  Commonwealth,  or  by  any  person  residing  therein,  for  or  on  account  of  any 
prize  or  part  of  a  prize,  that  may  have  been  drawn  or  pretended  to  be  drawn 
by  or  upon  any  real  or  fictitious  ticket  or  part  of  a  ticket,  certificate,  bill,  token 
or  security,  in  any  real  or  pretended  lottery,  purchased  or  received  within  this 
commonwealth,  shall  be  forfeited  to  the  commonwealth,  and  may  be  recovered 
for  the  commonwealth,  from  the  person  who  shall  have  received  it,  by  informa¬ 
tion  filed  in  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  or  it  may  be  recovered  in  any 
such  court,  by  an  action  for  money  had  and  received,  in  the  name  of  the  common¬ 
wealth,  by  any  attorney  thereof. 

Sect.  6.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  acts  heretofore  passed  for  the  regula¬ 
tion  and  suppression  of  lotteries,  be,  and  they  hereby  are  repealed,  except  in  so 
much  as  they  may  affect  any  actions,  suits,  informations  or  indictments  that  may 
have  been  commenced  under  the  sanction  of  such  acts  respectively. 


3  0112  098476663 


